Page 4
Chapter 2
“You’re seriously going for a run?”
While Toni sat with a cup of tea at the kitchen counter, Alessandra lifted her foot up behind her, stretching her quads.
“I promised myself I would start today—”
“After being out until one a.m.? Good idea.” Toni took the tea bag from the mug and placed it on a napkin.
The smell of chai wafted toward her, an enticement to stay in and get cozy, but rather than succumb to the smell, she grabbed a water bottle from the refrigerator. “Are you working today?”
Toni made a face at her. “We don’t all have the summers off.”
“Hey,” she said, giving her a playful shove, “I worked my butt off in college to get a mediocre salary. I’m not going to apologize for that.”
The flicker in Toni’s eyes made her feel an instant surge of regret. Toni hadn’t had that chance. She’d never made it to her first semester of college after her parents died. That had been nine years ago, and she’d never returned, even though she often hinted that she would. For her parents’ sake.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”
“No worries.” Toni smiled. “It’s not like anyone’s preventing me from going back to college. Maybe I’ll enroll in your class. Wouldn’t that be fun?”
“Fun? You grilling me about medieval history in front of my first class of college students?”
“As if I could ask you something you don’t already know.”
While it was true Alessandra did know a great deal about medieval England—her fascination with that time period starting, oddly enough, after reading The Hobbit—the general Medieval Studies course would cover a broader scope than her particular area of expertise. Luckily, she had a whole summer to prepare for it.
“To answer your question more directly, yes, I’m working today. Why?”
Alessandra took a healthy swig of water and then left the bottle on the coffee table by the door. “I need to grab a gift.”
She opened the front door of their tiny five-room home, one that had been in Toni’s family for decades. It was the only house on Main Street that had a front yard, the others having long since lost most of their greenery.
“See you later.”
After a quick three-block walk, she reached the footpath along the river. Taking a deep breath, Alessandra began running slowly, already regretting that Slippery Nipple.
A month earlier, she’d visited her brother, a senior at Penn State University, and they’d run together for the first time in months. Her fitness-buff brother had made a good case for a running habit, and she’d promised him, and herself, she’d pick it up again as soon as school let out for the summer. But Toni had been right, of course—she could have picked a better time to begin getting back into shape.
“Beautiful day.”
She hadn’t even heard footfalls behind her. When she turned, Alessandra nearly tripped on nothing more than the dirt path beneath her feet.
It was him, the guy from the bar. The one Toni had drooled over. This morning he was dressed in a plain white T-shirt and nondescript shorts, but he was no less of a looker as he ran alongside her.
He was also a stranger.
She’d never quite gotten used to the “smallness” of Stone Haven. Back home in Mauch Chunk, she could run around the lake three times a week and still not see anyone she knew. Not so in Stone Haven. She’d only lived here for five years, but she knew most of the locals.
He was certainly not one of them.
So what was he doing out here?
“It is,” she agreed. The summer’s heat had not fully set in yet, and it was cool enough for a comfortable run. “You’re not from here.”
As soon as the words were out, it struck her that perhaps she’d been too direct. “Sorry,” she said. “I’m used to seeing tourists in town, but they don’t typically hit the trails.”
While some called Stone Haven the Switzerland of America, its quaint homes and shops surrounded on three sides by the Pocono Mountains, most visitors stayed one night at most. There was only so much country store shopping and ice cream eating a family could do.
